A meeting between Mr. Nael Assa'd, head of the data communications department at the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PalTel) and members of ITSIG took place at Al Qasr Palace Hotel in Nablus on Wednesday, August 13, 1997. The meeting was centred around the status and future plans of PalTel in data communications. Birzeit University Computer Center director Marwan Tarazi attended.

Summary of the topics covered in the meeting:

PalTel has identified a large customer demand for data communications, and has begun to take concrete action to meet these needs. While the existing infrastructure offers limited local services, plans are under way to provide inter-city connectivity. In the initial stages, this will be done in co-operation with Bezeq, the Israeli domestic telephone company. At later stages, such services will be provided independently.

Existing infrastructure for Data Communications:

At present PalTel is only capable of offering local or intra-city data communications to it…s clients on a very limited scale. The service may be summarized as follows:

1. The current infrastructure allows for point to point copper connections between two sites only. HDSL (high bit rate data subscriber line) equipment is normally used at each end.
2. The local access network is very congested, and the number of readily available copper wires to potential clients is limited. In the future PalTel plans to use various access methods including wireless connections to address these limitations.
3. PalTel does not have any policies for data networking services yet: pricing, services, support, etc.
4. Local connections are being dealt with on a case by case basis.

Immediate Plans:

PalTel has recently entered into negotiations with Bezeq, the Israeli Telephone Company for the use of the Israeli network in the provision of data networking services to Palestinian cities. Prior to the transfer of telephone services to the Palestinian Authority, and later to PalTel, the telephone network in the W.B. and Gaza was an integrated part of Bezeq's network. In fact almost all inter-city telephony services in the PA areas are still provided by Bezeq (please refer to Status and Future Telecommunications and Data Networks in Palestine - by Marwan Tarazi, available at http://www.birzeit.edu/web/control.html). PalTel is trying to extend this service to include data communications as well.

It is important to note that PalTel currently owns links between Jenin, Toulkarm, Qalqilia, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron. Most of these links are redundant and are used for telephone link backup and part of the bandwidth may be used for data communications. PalTel plans to use these links in conjunction with the services that will be offered by Bezeq.

Technical Details:

1. There are numerous available links (with large bandwidths) between all Palestinian cities and the Israeli data networks.
2. In order to use the Israeli data networks PalTel will only need to install data switching equipment at the major city switches.
3. Israel has two main data networks: SIFRANET - a point to point network, and a frame relay network.
4. The switching equipment for SIFRANET is significantly cheaper that that of the frame relay network
5. The equipment cost for linking two sites using SIFRANET or the frame relay network is almost the same. However, the cost of equipment for linking multiple sites grows almost exponentially with SIFRANET and remains the same with the frame relay network.
6. A switching network requires less overall bandwidth than does the frame relay network

Pricing:

There are many factors under consideration that will be used to determine the pricing scheme and the choice of networks. They are:

1. Potential number of users: PalTel will be conducting a market analysis study in which it will identify the potential number of users, the price ranges they will be ready to pay, etc.
2. Prices offered by Bezeq for both the frame relay network and the SIFRANET links. So far, BEZEQ has offered PalTel inflated prices for the SIFRANET option. Such prices may imply that the Palestinian customer may pay up to 3 times the rate of an Israeli customer. BEZEQ claims that they will be raising the prices for all SIFRANET services in Israel and have submitted a bill to the Kenesset requesting the price hike. The prices offered to PalTel were based upon the projected new prices.
3. Type of connections: Percentages of two site connections to multiple site connections. A high multiple-site connection ratio may favour the need for a frame relay network. The set-up and equipment costs for multiple point connections using SIFRANET are likely to deter many potential customers.
4. Cost of the switching equipment at the main cities.

Using the local network:

Questions were raised during the meeting about the feasibility of building a Palestinian data communications network. Such a scenario will require the following:

1. The use of the existing inter-city links when possible. The quality and availability of these links have not been determined yet.
2. Leasing of data communication lines from Bezeq between cities that are not covered by the existing PalTel network. This has not been addressed yet.
3. The establishment of a central national switching equipment that will do the job of the Israeli switching networks (SIFRANET or frame relay).

Conclusion:

It is clear that PalTel is taking concrete steps in providing data communication services to Palestine. The time frame for the implementation may range from several days to a few months depending on the platform that will be chosen. The immediate need is for a detailed market study or needs assessment and a detailed technical/cost analysis of the various options before a final decision is to be made.

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